A Meaningful and Impactful Week
I recently returned from a week in Israel. My brother-in-law, David, and I went with 27 others on a solidarity mission where we were volunteering every day. It was one of the most meaningful and impactful weeks of my life.
Many people questioned why we were going on a trip to a war zone. More on that in a bit…
When we made it public that we were going on this trip, we gave our network the opportunity to donate items in high demand by soldiers…simple things like protein bars and thermal long sleeve undershirts. We each brought two 50-lb bags full of donations (our clothes stuffed into our carry-on bags). We could not spend all of the funds we raised due to luggage restrictions, so we donated directly to some of the organizations we got familiar with by the end of the trip.
We were able to see family and friends, visit with friends who were there for the same purpose, and reconnect with young people who had stayed with my family when they toured the United States as teens as long as 11 years ago. But mostly we were there to work…we were there to help.
Neither David nor I can speak conversational Hebrew. We know the letters and can read a sentence, but we rarely can understand what we are reading. We can recite the prayers we learned as kids and still repeat today, but this is not useful in an everyday setting.
However, we both are very good at following directions. We gardened in a tomato farm where labor has been scarce since the war began shortly after October 7th, since most workers are either Arabs from Gaza who can no longer enter or Israelis who have been called up for reserve duty. We picked oranges on a large grove where almost 30,000 tons of food is donated every week. We made a barbeque dinner for Israel Defense Forces soldiers. We sorted clothing donated for displaced families in a makeshift warehouse that was converted from a large parking garage—we stocked shelves and rearranged empty boxes. We were the truest form of immigrant labor…we couldn’t read or write but we could follow instructions well and we were willing to work.
For me, the most impactful day of volunteering was on an IDF base where we worked in the receiving and distribution center where new recruits arrive and receive their basics: uniforms, sleeping bag, etc. Our group of ten or so men were assigned to “sleeping bag duty.” There were piles and piles of military sleeping bags fresh from the laundry. Our job was to check to be sure there were not too many rips or tears (especially on the waterproof side that lays on the ground) and that the zipper was functioning properly (adding a zip tie if needed to pull). Then we were to roll them up tightly and give to another member of our group who was working the “strapping machine” that tied the bag securely. He then stacked 40 of those neatly in a bin and they were hauled off ready to be distributed. Most of these bags were 40+ years old (1972 was the earliest date we saw on a label). David said that theoretically a father and son could have used the same bag 25-30 years apart! As we rolled the bags thinking this is what new soldiers receive on their first day, we talked about how much we would like to include a “Thank you” message into each bag. Again, we were “immigrant labor” and none of us cared. We were all there to help and support the IDF doing tasks that privates would typically do but cannot since they have been deployed. We all took great pride in our work.
On our second day there, we toured the south of Israel very near the Gaza border. We were standing on the plot of land that used to be the police department in Sderot…Hamas terrorists took the building over on October 7th and then the IDF leveled the building to nothing but rubble. It was surreal to think about where we were. We visited an auto wreckage spot and stood among the charred remains of hundreds of vehicles burned during the Hamas attack on October 7th. We were viewing the bullet-riddled cars now parked in a vehicle graveyard knowing that over 3,000 free-spirited 20- and 30-somethings were trying to flee the Nova music festival while all around them terrorists executed a methodical, highly orchestrated assault. Bearing witness to these atrocities is why we visited this war zone. We needed to show our support for good over evil.
We visited the Nova festival site where there is now a tree planted for each of the 364 people who were killed on October 7th. We saw some disturbing things like the bomb shelter where several hostages were abducted. It was a very tough day…such senseless killing of innocent young people…each one more beautiful than the next. It was heartbreaking but we were glad to be there. While there we heard more than 30 very loud booms…they were artillery barrels that were being fired into Gaza to specific coordinates communicated by troops to clear out known Hamas hideouts. In a surreal way, the explosions almost became like background noise…we got used to it.
We visited Hostage Square in Tel Aviv and heard from a few of the families of those still in captivity. Imagine hearing from your 21-year-old son that they are safe and they escaped and then shortly after that watching the location of their cell phone go into Gaza as you can no longer reach them. It had been 139 days on the Thursday that we were there…unfathomable.
Our group was split into many small groups on Friday night and David and I were hosted for a lovely Shabbat dinner with a family about our ages—they had a 19-year-old son and a 16-year-old daughter there with us. They also had a 21-year-old son who was serving in the military and was currently in Gaza. They only hear from him once a week and it is a very stressful and intense time for them. We were glad to be able to occupy their minds with conversation for a couple of hours.
One of the biggest things we took away from the trip was how genuinely grateful the Israeli people were that we were there. They thanked us with their eyes piercing into our souls with gratitude. I encourage anyone who can to go visit and do this kind of trip…if not now, when?
-Gary Weiss, March 2024
The auto wreckage site felt like a scene from a concentration camp
The Nova Music Festival site where trees have been planted
Working in Eran’s Angels, the warehouse for items for displaced families
Showing how close we were to the Gaza border (this was our guide for that part of the day)
A table remains set for those held captive at Hostage Square
Tomato farming
Orange picking
Rolling a tight sleeping bag!
With my first group of former teen Israeli scouts…hosted the girls in 2017 at our home for over a week (and one of their brothers a couple of years later for a few days)
With my second group of former teen Israeli scouts…hosted them in 2013…now an occupational therapist at a Tel Aviv hospital and a software engineer for Facebook!
